Onaiyakan Breaks Silence Over Presidency’s Diatribe, Declares ‘I Am Unshaken, Fear No One’

Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, has said he is neither embarrassed nor afraid of the Federal Government following criticism of his public comments about a meeting between Catholic bishops and President Bola Tinubu.

Onaiyekan said he appeared on Arise News after the meeting to communicate the concerns raised by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), insisting that his comments were not made to please the government or any individual.

“I didn’t go to Arise to please government, or to just please people, but to tell the truth. That’s all I stand for,” the 82-year-old cleric said in a video shared by SYMFONI TV on Wednesday.

He added, “I cannot be embarrassed. I’m 82 years old; nobody can embarrass me. And I’m not afraid of anybody. Nobody, at this stage now, are they going to arrest me, carry me to where?”

Onaiyekan stressed that his comments reflected the collective position of the Catholic bishops who attended the meeting with Tinubu, rather than his personal views.

“I didn’t talk on my own now. I spoke on behalf of my fellow bishops. We drafted a statement which contained all that I said in the interview. So, all the bishops of Nigeria spoke that way. It was their voice I was echoing,” he said.

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He also urged Nigerians not to take the freedom to criticise government for granted, noting that religious leaders in some African countries could not speak as openly.

The comments followed a July 28 meeting between Tinubu and a delegation of the CBCN at the State House, Abuja.

The bishops raised concerns about economic hardship, insecurity, democracy, the 2027 elections, religious freedom and the return of mission schools.

Three days after the meeting, Onaiyekan appeared on Arise News and publicly discussed the bishops’ concerns. The Presidency later criticised his disclosure, with the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, describing it as inappropriate to make details of a private engagement public.

However, Onaiyekan maintained that he had no reason to be embarrassed by the reaction, insisting that the bishops’ intervention was driven by their concern over poverty, insecurity and the suffering of Nigerians.

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